Purdue University articles

Just a few minutes of warning during a natural disaster can mean the difference between life and death. Imagine being stuck underneath rubble after a hurricane slams landward, knocking out the emergency phone lines. What if social media could save your life? What if an online platform gave you a more accurate, detailed route of a hurricane?

Purdue University researchers have developed an approach that allows experienced surgeons and physicians around the world to help less-experienced doctors in war zones, natural disasters and in rural areas perform complicated procedures. “The most critical challenge is to provide surgical expertise into the battlefield when it is most required,” said Juan Wachs, Purdue’s James A. and Sharon M. Tompkins Rising Star Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, who led the project team.

The same way that yeast yields beer and bread can help hospital lab workers better track their daily radiation exposure, enabling a faster assessment of tissue damage that could lead to cancer. But rather than building portable cellars or ovens, Purdue University researchers have engineered yeast 'microbreweries' within disposable badges made of freezer paper, aluminium and tape. Simply adding a drop of water activates the yeast to show radiation exposure as read by an electronic device.

Purdue University researchers are a step closer to answering one of the critical questions about the brain – how neural networks in the organ perform the computations necessary for higher-level brain functions. The technology also provides a new tool for the potential development of medications for neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

Purdue University researchers have developed a class of optical nanotweezers that can trap and detect biomolecules, viruses and DNA more rapidly. The technology can also use light to promptly detect cancer or improve the production of medications, an important step forward as nearly half of Americans have used at least one prescription drug within the past month. The researchers developed a nanostructured plasmonic metafilm by perforating nanoscale holes in a gold film.

Purdue University researchers have created an electronic chip that may provide improved support for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide the World Health Organisation says are affected by neurological disorders. The Purdue researchers developed an electronic chip that can read signals from several nerve endings and wirelessly transmit them without needing a battery or any other component. Energy is created by an on-chip antenna similar to the technology used to wirelessly charge smartphones.

A startup created by Purdue University professors is developing a sensor that can detect dangerous mosquito-borne tropical diseases faster and at a lower cost than current methods, giving health officials time to take action before the viruses are transmitted to humans. SMK Diagnostics has created biosensor technology to identify and monitor diseases such as Zika, which set off a global health crisis in 2015 and 2016, and dengue, which causes about 22,000 deaths a year worldwide, mostly among children.

Purdue University researchers have developed soft contact lenses that not only correct vision but also can monitor glucose and medical conditions and be used for ocular pain relief or drug delivery. Sensors or other technology previously couldn’t be used for soft contact lenses because the technology required a rigid, planar surface incompatible with the soft, curved shape of a contact lens.

A Purdue-affiliated startup is developing a low-cost, high-tech solution to address the nationwide health crisis of Americans failing to take their medicine as prescribed. The Internet of Things system reminds patients to take medications and quickly alerts caregivers or providers when intervention is needed.

Purdue University researchers have developed a device that uses cold plasma technology that could transform how medical tools are sterilised. The device generates cold plasma, which has high potential to be used in the fields of sterilisation and disinfection, through pure direct current high voltage instead of the conventional radio frequency or pulsed DC power.

Purdue University researchers have developed a minimally invasive technique that may help doctors better explore and treat cancerous cells, tissues and tumours without affecting nearby healthy cells. The method, called PLASMAT - Plasma Technologies for a Healthier Tomorrow - combines three emerging techniques that appear promising in the fight against most types of cancer.

Purdue University researchers are developing an app and wearable technology to enable pregnant women to use a smartphone to detect whether they have or are susceptible to a condition that could lead to serious health complications for them or their unborn child. The team, led by Craig Goergen, an assistant professor in Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, is developing a low-cost automated early detection sensor of preeclampsia.

Purdue University researchers have developed detection technology that allows a typical smartphone to analyse produce for foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7, which has been linked to a deadly outbreak in romaine lettuce. The technology involves both hardware – a smartphone cradle – and software in the form of an application that is downloaded on the phone. The combination allows the smartphone to be used as an on-site luminometer, an instrument used to measure light.

A silk hybrid material attacks bacteria when illuminated by a green light, thanks to a far-red fluorescent protein researchers transferred to its genetic makeup. The all-natural material would be safer than conventional photocatalytic, or light-activated, means to kill harmful pathogens such as bacteria, which use potentially biohazardous semiconductors and require cancer-causing ultraviolet light for activation.

Purdue researcher Luis Solorio has helped create a lifelike cancer environment out of polymer to better predict how drugs might stop its course. Previous research has shown that most cancer deaths happen because of how it spreads, or metastasises, in the body. A major hurdle for treating cancer is not being able to experiment with metastasis itself and knock out what it needs to spread.

A new technology that simulates tumours has been shown to perform as well as research animals in testing chemotherapy drugs, representing a potential tool for screening drugs before treating a patient. A long-term goal is to incorporate biopsied cancer cells from patients and test the effectiveness of different drugs on the patient-derived cells, said Bumsoo Han, a Purdue University professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering.

A pair of Purdue University professors are using the popular Nintendo Wii gaming system to help people with Parkinson’s disease. Jessica Huber and Jeff Haddad from the College of Health and Human Sciences are studying how playing specially created games can improve a patient’s movement, speech and overall quality of life.

Researchers at Purdue University are creating a device that they hope will help identify risk factors that cause breast cancer. The device, known as risk-on-a-chip, is a small plastic case with several thin layers and an opening for a piece of paper where researchers can place a portion of tissue. This tiny environment produces risk factors for cancer and mimics what happens in a living organism.

In a potential breakthrough for the treatment of obesity and diabetes, Purdue University scientists have found a way to deliver a drug directly to stored white fat cells to turn them into more easily burned brown fat cells. White adipose tissue, most associated with obesity, is a type of fat that collects in the body for long-term storage of energy. It’s possible humans evolved to store white fat to act as insulation and energy storage.

A new medical-diagnostic device made out of paper detects biomarkers and identifies diseases by performing electrochemical analyses - powered only by the user’s touch - and reads out the color-coded test results, making it easy for non-experts to understand. “You could consider this a portable laboratory that is just completely made out of paper, is inexpensive and can be disposed of through incineration,” said Ramses V. Martinez, an assistant professor of industrial and biomedical engineering at Purdue University.

This site uses cookies to enhance your visitor experience. Continuing to use this website gives consent to cookies being used. For more information on how to disable cookies see our Privacy & Data Protection Policy